Alt-Buch
Today's Pankow district of Buch was first mentioned in the mid-13th century and in official records in 1375 as "Wendisch-Buch" or „Buch slavica“. Archeological sites confirm the settlement of the "Buch Feldmark" dating back to the Bronze Age.
The aristocratic land and estate owners in Buch were Wiltberg, Bredow (from 1342), Röbel (from 1450), Pölnitz (from 1669), Viereck (from 1724) and Voß (from 1761). The German novelist Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) describes the towns of Buch, its owners, and Malchow in his "Hiking through Mark Brandenburg".
Between 1670 and 1672 the Prussian General Gerhard Bernhard, baron of Pölnitz (1617-1679), created a Dutch-style garden, precursor of what today is the palace garden newly designed as a landscape park. The mummified body of the baron used to be on display in the palace church's crypt, which was walled up in 1925. Minister Adam Otto von Viereck (1684-1758) had the park enlarged in a French style, commissioned Berlin master builder Friedrich Wilhelm Diterichs (1702-1782) to convert the estate house into a palace and from 1731 to 1736 had the palace church and an orangery erected. The monument (1763) for A. O. von Viereck in the church is the last work of Johann Georg Glume the Elder (1679-1765). The memorial, which has been described as Mark Brandenburg's most splendid baroque church, is Diterichs’ last remaining church in Berlin. Concerts are staged in it, and each fall it hosts the Buch Sacred Music Festival. The von Voß Family, above all, Otto von Voß (1755–1823), expanded the palace park in the style of English gardens. In 1898 the city of Berlin purchased the estate along with the Buch Forest, in order to realize the plans of Berlin's chief engineer, James Hobrecht (1815-1902), for the city's sewer system, upon recommendation of physician Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902), to create sewage fields, which were in operation from 1909 to 1985. The municipality of Berlin made the palace into the Lord Mayor's summer residence. The church burned out during a bombing in November 1943. It was rebuilt from 1950 to 1953 in a greatly simplified form without a tower. The orangery was demolished in 1955, and the palace, which had only suffered minor war damage, was dismantled in 1964.
Between 1976 and 1981 residential buildings were built in Buch. All the remainings of the old village nucleus were the palace church, the rectory, coachman's and servants' quarters, two former farms, as well as the estate that was used for farming till the end of the 1970s. Those buildings, in additional to the palace inn, dating back to 1823, are under historical preservation. In around 1980, the estate was used by the East Berlin municipality's office for architecturally-related art and after 1991 as an art colony, home to studios and workshops for the fine arts Today the Stadtgut Berlin-Buch accommodates besides rooms for artistic creations, the big event hall“Feste-Scheune”and arestaurant withthe hotel.
Die Familie von Voß, vor allem Otto von Voß (1755–1823), vergrößerte den Schlosspark in der Manier englischer Gärten. 1898 kaufte die Stadt Berlin das Gut und den Bucher Forst, um nach den Plänen des Chefingenieurs der Berliner Kanalisation, James Hobrecht (1815-1902), die von dem Mediziner Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902) angeregten Rieselfelder anzulegen, die von 1909 bis 1985 in Betrieb waren. Der Berliner Magistrat machte das Schloss zum Sommersitz des Oberbürgermeisters. Die Kirche brannte im November 1943 bei einem Bombenangriff aus. Sie wurde 1950 bis 1953 ohne Turm stark vereinfacht wieder aufgebaut. Die Orangerie wurde 1955, das nur leicht kriegsbeschädigte Schloss 1964 abgerissen. Zwischen 1976 und 1981 entstanden moderne Wohnbauten in Buch. Vom alten Dorfkern blieben nur Schlosskirche, Pfarr-, Kutscher- und Gesindehaus, zwei ehemalige Bauerngehöfte sowie der noch bis Ende der 1970er-Jahre landwirtschaftlich genutzte Gutshof erhalten. Die Gebäude stehen ebenso wie der 1823 errichtete Schlosskrug unter Denkmalschutz. Der Gutshof wurde um 1980 vom Büro für architekturbezogene Kunst des Ost-Berliner Magistrats und nach 1991 als Künstlerhof genutzt, auf dem sich Ateliers und Werkstätten bildender Künstler befanden. Heute beherbergt das Stadtgut Berlin-Buch neben Räumen für künstlerisches Schaffen den großen Veranstaltungssaal „Feste-Scheune“ und ein Restaurant mit Hotel.
Text: Ulrich Werner Grimm, Aktualisierung: Stefanie Gronau